Brewer's: Bonzes

(sing. Bonze). Indian priests. In China they are the priests of the Fohists; their number is 50,000, and they are represented as idle and dissolute. In Japan they are men of rank and family. In Tonquin every pagoda has at least two bonzes, and some as many as fifty.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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